TOKYO JAPAN OMG

I WONDER IF YOU KNOW, HOW THEY LIVE IN TOKYO

long time coming but i finally got around to writing a guide for tokyo

here’s some tips but first, here’s the index to help you navigate the different blocks i have here:

  1. things to do and install before going to japan

2) things to bring to japan

3) where to stay / hotels / accommodations

4) how to get into the city from haneda or narita airport

5) fast food / conbini options in japan

6) taking a bullet train to osaka and how to ride it

7) disneyland / disney tokyo sea tips

8) the LIST of places to shop

things to do before you get to japan!

so if this is your first time giong to japan, you will need to do a few things before going to japan which i think are essential and easier to do at home at the comfort of your own internet and wifi.

  1. digital web on japan’s customs website    visit this https://services.digital.go.jp/en/visit-japan-web/
    so when you land in japan, you have to go thru immigration as with any country.  however, for japan, you can fill out the immigration form ahead of time online and it’ll save you the headache of having to write it down or trying to fill it out last minute.  log onto this website and register an email.  once you have a login for japan web, you can register any travel dates into the system which is basic questions like the dates you are going, airplane you are arriving on, the hotel you are staying at. once you finish the form, it will generate a QR code.  you will show that QR code when you land in japan on a computer and they will take your photo.  EASY PEEZY.

 

  2. download suica card onto your apple wallet.
    so the suica card is like a debit card for your IPHONE which makes most of your transactions in japan easy.  the suica card is accepted everywhere like the metro, buses, trains, 7/11 food transacitons, and a lot of stores take suica.  you can top off your suica card 20,000 yen at a time and add your credit card to charge it. so my order is i would download the suica app from the app store.  that app will be in japanese but you just need it to help you generate a number. once you download the app, go to your apple wallet and add a new transit card, you can scroll down to japan and select SUICA.  once you load that, add a credit card and top it off and you are all set to ride the subway in japan and buy drinks at 7/11 and much more.
  4. download the shin ex app onto your phone
    this app is really just for the bullet trains in japan (shinkansen). you can buy tickets at the station on the machine with money but it is infintely easier to buy the train tickets on the app.
    download the app and register your email and username.  once you get the login, you have to add a payment card and it will run a $1 transaction just to make sure it goes thru.  once you have the app, you can buy tickets by selecting dates, direction of the train (such as tokyo to kyoto or tokyo to osaka) and you can buy the ticket and it will generate the ticket to assign to your suica card.  i will do another video on this in the future on how to use the app

 

ALSO, THE ELECTRICITY IS basically the same except its 2 plug instead of 3 prong. make sure your electronics are 2 prong

so japan and USA use the same plugs except japan doesn’t use 3PRONG plugs for the heavier electronics. i would not bother bringing any hair tools as japan’s voltage is different.  however, chargers for macbooks, phones, and most electronics will work as long as they are rated 110-240V on your charger (you will see that on your charger).  generally, all my electronics are 2 prong anyway so i bring those and they work.

booking a hotel: where to stay in tokyo!

so if this is your first time in tokyo, here are some english friendly neighborhoods i’d recommend to ease your way into japan.

  1. akihabara (english friendly, all tourists, arcade games and crane games, nerdy heavy and cheaper hotels and a 24 hour donki (walmart on crack))
  2. ueno (up the street from akihabara, but close to the train station and skyliner to narita airport, and lots of food in the area)
  3. shibuya (i know….but its convenient for first timers. has all the shopping you can want and restaurants with english menus)
  4. roppongi if you like american properties and can afford it. prob catch someone cheating on his wife out here on the real

areas i’d avoid for first timers in tokyo

  1. shinjuku (train station can get really confusing)
  2. tokyo skytree (it’s kinda far from everything so youll regret it and its not on the yamanote main line)
  3. yokohama – mad far.

 

areas to stay in osaka i’d recommend:

  1. namba area (close to the all the action in the main part of osaka. close to dontonburi, food, restaurants)
  2. america village (near shinsaibashi) but near all the cool thrift stores and close to the shopping
  3. honmachi (pretty decent nearby shinsabashi but a little bit more quiet.  lots of american properties nearby but also near the subway)
  4. shin-osaka area (this is my favorite shopping area and its near the shinkansen area so its closer.  however, it’s north compared the rest of osaka)

top things i’d recommend to bring to japan / camera recs/ etc

  1. comfortable walking shoes. you will be walking guaranteed 15K steps a day and trust me you not used to it (unless you’re from NYC)

how to travel from the AIRPORTS to your hotel

Haneda:

Narita:

7/11 and local fast food options – some recommendations

shipping luggage back:

Shipping your luggage back using  YAMATO Transport (blackcat) or AIRPORTER from your HOTEL

 

Japan is next leven when it comes to travel.  With proper planning you can ship your luggage back to another hotel or to the airport as long as it you give it two days.  I wouldn’t trust same day but I def ship my luggage ahead of time the day before by 9AM.  Cost from most hotels to the airport is $20-25 a bag and hotel to hotel is around the same price.  Highly recommend to use this service as getting on the bullet train with your bags is annoying.

 

Example: I ship luggage by 9AM in the lobby on a Monday.  When I Get to Osaka, my luggage is there in Osaka next day by Tuesday.

Another real life example: I fill up my first luggage with gifts on Wednesday.  I fill out the form and drop off the luggage next day Thursday 9AM to get to the airport by Friday for whenever I fly out.

The other option is black cat but blackcat requires some filling out some forms which I’m too lazy to do.  Blackcat allows you to drop off luggage at any 7-11 and you must fill out the form yourself.  Some locations have QR codes where you can scan it yourself and fill out the form in English which is clutch.  You can then take your bags to the counter and show the QR code and pay.

 

The website for airporter is here:

For black cat locations, you can search Yamato near your hotel or any 7’11.

KLOOK.COM

 

So Japanese websites are very much stuck in the 2000’s and have a hard time processing transactions, especially for foreigners.  Most websites will require you to have a Japanese address or Japanese credit card.  KLOOK.com has partnered with a ton of different Japanese agencies to sell you tickets with our American credit cards and they will email you QR codes or tickets or PDFs which is easier.

 

For example: you can book the Skyliner Express Train from Narita airport to Tokyo using KLOOK.

Disneyland and Disney Japan tickets are a MUST to book on here.

Universal Japan Tickets and the Harry Potter Experience in Tokyo.

Various animal cafes we went to we got the tickets on Klook.

 

The list is endless but I highly recommend booking tickets in advance as Japan is a society based on reservations.

taking the bullet train from tokyo to osaka and kyoto and vice versa

DON QUIJOTE (DONKI) the shop with EvERYTHING

 

Donki is a must visit and one of the only stores I’ll shop at like 2-3AM when I can’t sleep.  Donki is a huge super store that carries tourist items, apparel, toys, and souvenirs and food and makeup all in one location. They blast one of the craziest theme songs for a store and you will be hearing it in your sleep.  This store is definitely sensory overload but recommend you get there during your trip.

 

Locations I go to:

Akihabara – 24 hours and pretty busy with all the nerds from USA even in the middle of the night.

Ueno- open until 4AM and this is about a 10 minute walk from Akihabara but way less tourists.

Asakusa – near the temples and this one is open 24 hours.  This location isn’t bad but it’s out of the way at night when you have to Uber back home, etc.

Roppongi- 24 hours and this one has a lot of tourists too.  This one is kind of small IMO but still found everything I was looking for when I go to this one.

Shibuya – MEGA DONKI open 24 hours. This one I try to avoid because it’s always SO busy anytime I go but if you want to people watch and see one of the biggest ones around Shibuya in the middle of the night, this one is a good one to go.

tokyo disneysea and tokyo disneyland tips

 

 

 

Disneyland and Disney Tokyo Sea are like top three Disney parks in the whole world.  I would highly recommend going and it’s actually affordable for day tickets.  Unlike Disneyworld and California where tickets are $180 and more to get into the door, day tickets for Japan parks are around $64 and fast passes for rides are between $7 and 10 and COMPLETELY worth it.

Just fair warning, queues are very long though at the park and average anywhere from 60 minutes to 250 minutes for the major attraction rides.  I recommend going a few days because shopping alone takes me a few hours!

 

Okay so first thing’s first.  Remember how I wrote about KLOOK.com?  You will need KLOOK again.  Disney Japan does not sell tickets on a website to foreigners.  You will have to buy tickets via their authorized partners. Once you buy the tickets, they will email you a QR code you can add on the Disneyland Japan app to get you in.

 

KLOOK.com – head over and search Disneyland or Disney Sea tickets.  Add the day you want to go, and pay.  They will email you the QR code and you can scan it.  Download the Disneyland Japan app and register your email so you have a login.  Once you login and add your tickets via QR code, you can assign your name to the ticket and you’re all good to use the APP to scan in

 

GETTING TO DISNEYLAND.  Highly recommend taking the train.  It’s the only realistically way to get there efficiently.  The train stop is MAIHAMA.  You can transfer here from any of the major train stations especially Tokyo Station.  If are you staying at any of the neighborhoods, I recommend off the Yamanote, you can hop on the Yamanote and transfer to the Red line to take it to Maihama.  Once you get to the JR station Maihama, you will have two options.  You can walk right off the train station for the bridge over to Tokyo Disneyland.  If you go left, you can take the MONORAIL that goes to Disney sea (it cost 600 yen from what I remember).  You can’t walk to Disneysea – only drop off by taxi or this monorail.

 

 

GET IN EARLY-  Ok so I’m sure you’ve seen the videos of all the Japanese Disney adults that line up around 6AM-7AM to get in first.  You don’t need to do all that.  I always aim for getting there around 10AM at the gate and I’m in by 1030AM.  However, going at 10AM is important because you immediately need to buy the first fast pass with DISNEY PREMIERE ACCESS.

 

Disney Premiere Access or DPA is the Japan version of fast pass tickets.  You have to be in the park physically to get access to buy tickets to the rides that will have crazy lines.  At Disneyland – this would be like beauty and the beast (best ride or real) and space mountain and thunder mountain etc.  At Disney Sea, this is like the entire park lol.  For Disney sea. I would use it for the frozen ride, peter pan neverland, and Indiana jones.  You can buy tickets every two hours and I would recommend skipping a few rides a day.

 

Unique things at Disney Japan resorts: The popcorn and the popcorn buckets.  Japan has some very unique popcorn flavors like matcha chocolate, white chocolate, CURRY (YES CURRY), salted caramel, and even soy sauce.  However, the popcorn buckets they sell definitely are rotated every year and have some new collectible ones each time.

The alien ice cream mochi from Toy story-  Def good and good for photo ops

Disney Ramen – this is over at Disney but they have udon and ramen and they have the mickey mouse egg that always confuses me on how they do it.

THE LIST

Bars 
Nakameguro- Tractor
Nakameguro- Takkyu Lounge
Ebisu- Martha; No phones, intimate record bar, best in groups of 2-4
Ebisu- Track; Sister bar of bar martha
Ebisu- Trench
Ebisu- Triad
Ebisu- Tram
Shinjuku- Benfiddich
Shinjuku- Zoetrope
Shibuya – SG Club; my favorite bar in Tokyo
Shibuya- Red Room
Shibuya- Oath
Nishiazabu- These
Nishishinjuku – New York Bar, Park Hyatt Hotel; Lost In Translation bar
Shibuya- Red Bar
Azabu Juban- Gen Yamamoto, need resy
Yotsuya- Vowz; cocktails meh, bar worth going still
Meguro- Mash Tun; whiskey
Ginza – Star Bar
Ginza – Bar High Five
Ginza – Ginza Record Bar

General Drinking Areas

Shinjuku- Golden Gai

Shinjuku- Omoide Yokocho
Shibuya- Nombei Yokocho
Roppongi – for foreigners
Food
– Miyota; casual Soba
– Kagari; Michelin Star Ramen
– Sushi Ishikawa; Former chef of Sushiya, up and coming star
– Umegaoka Sushi No Midori; Best bang for buck sushi in Tokyo, long wait
– Narikura Tonkatsu; Best Tonkatsu in Tokyo, might be my favorite meal in Tokyo
– Ore no Sora; Tsukemen
– Rokurinsha; Tsukemen in Tokyo Station
– Shima; Top 3 steakhouse in Tokyo, need reservation, pricy
– Tsukiji Fish Market; Sushi, go by 5AM
– Hatos Tokyo; American Style BBQ
– Piss Alley; alley in shinjuku with yakitori, more for experience & drinking
– Slice (Daikanyama); NY style pizza
– Munch’s; Hamburger, unfortunately very long lines now because Trump went
– Yogoro; Japanese Indian Style Curry
– Toriyoshi; Izakaya that specializes in chicken (Aoyama location)
– Ramen Jiro; infamous ramen experience, read about it
– Shimada; Japanese tapas, difficult reservation
– Gram Harajuku; souffle pancakes, must arrive before 10AM, only 20 servings per morning
– Macelleria La Luna Rossa; Japanese style italian pasta
– BLACOWS; hamburgers
– Henry’s; hamburgers, very good for a quick meal, minimal seating
– Sushi Matsue; two locations, good cost performance omakase
– Sushi Saito; 3-Michelin Star Omakase
– Seirinkan; best pizza I’ve had in Tokyo, a must-go #uglydelicious
– Masakichi; incredible yakitori, a must-go #uglydelicious
– Shirubee; izakaya – one of my favorite places but very hidden. You have to find it thru the back of a building and crawl thru a small door
– Namikibashinakamura; izakaya
– Sushi Ishiyama; former chef of Sushiya opened a new solo restaurant, rising star in Tokyo
– Da Isa; pizza, still have not been. heard good things
– Pizza Strada; supposed to be up and comer 
– Savoy; also pizza, supposed to be contender for best pizza, also from #uglydelicious
– Honmura An; famous for uni soba
 
Cafes
Daikanyama- Coffee Elementary School; coffee jelly drink
Daikanyama- Monkey Cafe; espresso coke
Nakameguro- Onibus
Shibuya- Koffee Mameya
Setagaya- Tokyo Saryo; tea kaiseki
Omotesando – Sasha Kanetanaka; incredible views, amazing lunch deal
Ginza – Higashiya; sweets and tea
Meguro – Artless Coffee
Meguro – Sidewalk Stand; Pineapple Americano is incredible
Ginza – Cafe De’Lambre; oldschool Japanese coffee
Men’s Shopping
– Dover Street Market Ginza
– Nakano Broadway (watches, toys, vintage, etc.)
– Undercover Aoyama
– Neighborhood
– WTAPS
– Rinkan (Goros secondhand)
– Deltaone (Goros secondhand)
– Isetan Mens
– United Arrows Harajuku
– North Face
– North Face Purple Label (Shibuya)
– North Face Purple Label (Daikanyama)
– Medicom Solamachi
– Roppongi Hills (Area)
– Daikanyama (Area)
– Bape
– Sacai
– Kapital
– Blue Blue (Daikanyama)
– Yohji Yamamoto
– Comme Des Garcons Aoyama
– Issey Miyake
– Champion Japan
General Shopping
– Akihabara (electronics district)
– Aoyama (trendy)
– Harajuku (streetwear)
– Shibuya (young mix)
– Ginza (5th avenue of Tokyo)
– Kiddyland (character shop)
– Daikanyama (trendy)
– Tokyo Station basement (good souvenirs, also great food court)
Book Stores
– Tsutaya (Daikanyama)
– Junkudo Ikebukuro
– Kitazawa Jimbocho
Museums/Galleries
– Mori Museum (Japanese contemporary)
– Nezu Museum (Traditional)
– Snoopy Museum (must book a month in advance)
– Nanzuka (Contemporary)
– Bookmarc
– teamPlanet lab digital 
Tourist Sites
– Tokyo Sky Tree
– Tokyo Tower
– Robot Show (Shinjuku)
-Muscle bar with girls
– Odaiba (Giant Gundam)

POKEMON CENTERS

 

So Pokemon is hot around the world again.  Tokyo definitely has a lot of POkemon Centers to visit.

 

First warning: cards are very hard to get.  Pokemon centers only sell like 1-2 packs per set to you per day.  So if you are going to Japan thinking it’s easy to get Pokemon cards, it’s not.  However, Pokemon centers in Japan def have exclusives that are worth picking up.

Pokemon centers to visit:

POKEMON CENTER GINZA : this one is bougie and has the Pokemon café for Tokyo.  You got to enter the building from the side and take an elevator

Pokemon Center Sunshine City – Ikkebukurro –  For some reason this one is small IMO but always so packed with people.  The lines here are long and the POkemon sweets café is here.

Pokemon Shibuya: this has the “mewtube” with the mewtwo in the tube.  This location is small but definitely an iconic one to go.

Pokemon yokohama- this one is kind of a mission to go to but if you are in yokohama and want to see all the things to do there, then it’s just across the bridge from the station.

Pokemon center lalaport in chiba- this one is def far but the exclusive ones are pretty worth the trip IMO.  It’s like an hour and 10 minutes train out from Tokyo station but I’ll bust this mission from Disneyland since Disneyland is close.

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